WRC INSIGHT
>>
The marginalisation
of the media
BEHIND the scenes it seems strange
things are happening in our media world.
Sensitive situations need sensitive
handling, but a belief that the old
systems have to be the best solution
might itself be an outdated concept if all
the indications coming out of the ISC are
real.
Maybe our time has come, and we in
the traditional media world should accept
that things will never be the same. Maybe
independence and reality are yesterday's
principles.
In the world of rallying, there has never
been a greater need for strong and radical
leadership but as in any battle, there will
be casualties. The old fashioned media
seems to be one of them.
It does not take intelligence to realise
that the traditional media world has
been in turmoil round the world from
the day that computers arrived. For us
there was one extra problem -- it took
the FIA some time before the digital age
became acceptable, while the underlying
disruption to the media world was now in
full force. Why pay journalists for stories
when information is free on the internet?
Why bother to employ photographers at
all?
Then came other pressures on our
world. The global recession hit the motor
industry hard. Teams disappeared and
with them their advertising budgets. So
why cover a sport when the sporting
industry does not support its media? Step
by step the media world stopped covering
rallying.
At the beginning of the 2009 season
the FIA appointed a global Promoter, the
existing rights holder ISC. The media
waited to see if they would bring back
happier days, or whether to strike out into
a different direction.
ISC's TV background made it obvious
that restoration of widespread TV
coverage would be its first priority, but
things started to go wrong in the rally
media world. The media ISC became an
opportunity to project the news of ISC's
own activities, rather than a way to help re-
establish the system of telling the world
about the sport itself.
Traditional media was being shunted
out of the door. By the end of this past
season, some really worrying ideas were
emerging.
Do they truly believe, for example,
that iconic rallies deserve to be kept
permanently in the series?
The latest quote from the ISC suggests
that the sport must now try to make the
Alsace Rally "iconic" instead of the Tour de
Corse. When asked whether the ISC was
calling the shots in recommending which
rallies should be in the championship
or whether this was the job of national
federations, there was no reply.
How does the ISC think the world's
media works? Do they really believe that
propaganda inevitably rules? ISC already
supplies copyright-free images for media
purposes from world championship
rallies, but takes no account of the fact
tthat magazines are not wanting to just
save money on photo rights -- they want
paying for covering the sport in the first
place!
Then came suggestions that the ISC
should also supply reports of events
directly to magazines. They asked
journalists for advice. Should these be in
English or the magazine's own language?
Hold on! We have already passed the
year '1984'. People these days are not
asked what flavour suicide pill they wish
to swallow!
In the middle of all this are the
journalists themselves, wondering what
lies ahead, if anything. All they can see are
dangerous times.
The sport is now so fragile that the
ISC could kill the sport altogether unless
the foundations are kept intact. The
sport is not centred around the world
championship alone. The WRC is only the
icing on the cake. Even the most attractive
decoration on a cake does not stop the
cake beneath from collapsing.
And if that happens the rally media will
be lying at the bottom of the rubble.
Editor's Note: Actually the World
Championship in 1984 wasn't such a
bad year in rallying. 12 rallies, 6 different
winning drivers, four different winning
makes of car, and the Stig was World
Champion!
Who is really calling the shots in world rallying ... and is the independent media
being squeezed out? MARTIN HOLMES evaluates significantly confusing times in
the rallying media
MARTIN
HOLMES
Rallies Editor
opinion
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